The trade involving Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks has been the talk of the NHL for the last day.
The Philadelphia Flyers stunned hockey fans around the league on Monday when announcing they traded the fifth overall pick from the 2022 draft to the Ducks in exchange for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in 2025.
Gauthier just came from a successful World Juniors Championship, where he helped the U.S. team win the gold medal in a tournament where no other player scored more than his 12 points.
So why did the Flyers trade him? Well, because he has no interest in ever playing with the organization.
Flyers general manager Dany Briere said that Gauthier refused to sign, train, and even talk with the Flyers. When he refused to see them during the World Juniors Championship, a trade became inevitable.
“It was a long time coming,” Briere said. “It’s been going on for a while. We tried to give him space. We tried to get in touch with him many times. He would not communicate … so at some point, we had to make a decision, and we thought with what happened just a few days ago, this was probably the time to get the highest value.”
Since the trade was publicly announced, reactions around the NHL have been massive. Head coach John Tortorella went viral with his hilarious remarks about him, claiming he couldn’t know Cutter ‘from a hole in the wall.’
After the trade was announced, interviews with Gauthier claiming the Pittsburgh Penguins have always been his favorite team and Crosby his favorite player went viral. And it didn’t take long for Paul Bissonnette, a well-liked analyst on TNT and podcast host for Spittin’ Chiclets, to react. And he wasn’t impressed with how Gauthier’s been handling everything.
”This is just getting more & more bizarre. He refuses to play for his idol’s rival? It’s like every interview he’s done post-draft is sending smoke signals. The only thing that’s for certain is that we have a new villain in Philadelphia,” Biz wrote.
He also said the following about Flyers chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty’s comments about how Philadelphia sports fans don’t forget things like this.
”Flyers threatening to give the battery treatment to Gauthier when he rolls into town holy f–k this is Slap Shot stuff. Can’t imagine it feels nice taking a few double A’s off dome from the Philly faithful. This has certainly turned into a night on the Twitter machine.”
Bissonnette wasn’t the only former NHLer reacting, as Scott Hartnell absolutely slammed Gauthier on live TV.
“A kid doesn’t wanna be there, hasn’t played an NHL game yet, he’s thinking he’s something else to call where he can be playing…” Hartnell said.
